High Resolution Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector

The High Resolution Fly's Eye, known as HiRes, was an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observatory in the West Desert of Utah, United States.

About High Resolution Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector

HiRes grew out of a cosmic-ray research programme at the site dating back to 1981, with its fully instrumented twin-detector array, HiRes-I and HiRes-II, operating from 1997 until it was shut down in April 2006. It was located on the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground, about 90 miles from Salt Lake City.

History

HiRes used the atmospheric fluorescence technique pioneered at the same site by the original Fly's Eye experiment, detecting the faint light that ultra-high-energy cosmic rays produce as they strike the atmosphere. Its two detector sites, HiRes-I and HiRes-II, sat about 12.6 km apart and operated in stereo, cross-checking each other's observations.

Telescopes & research

In 1991, the site recorded the famous "Oh-My-God Particle," a cosmic ray of extraordinary energy. HiRes went on to make the first observation of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) limit, a theoretical cutoff in cosmic-ray energies, with the experiment's final results in 2010 confirming the GZK cutoff.

Location & getting there

The site is in the North America region, in the West Desert of Utah, United States, on the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground, roughly 90 miles from Salt Lake City.

Visiting the HiRes site

HiRes ceased operating in April 2006 and the site is on active military land at Dugway Proving Ground, so it is not a public visitor attraction. Check current access restrictions with Dugway Proving Ground before planning any trip to the area.

See your named star from here

HiRes spent decades catching cosmic rays that arrive from far beyond our galaxy. If you've named a star with Star Register, its light has a much shorter, gentler journey to reach us, one you can trace with the coordinates on your certificate. Search the star catalogue to find your star.